1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to excavating and trenching apparatuses, and more particularly to apparatuses providing turf-strip excavating devices with excavation, pipe feeders, and sand or gravel funnel means for digging and laying pipe and depositing sand or gravel in sand channels for golf courses, sportsfields, parks and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various mechanized excavating apparatuses have been proposed and implemented for digging, trenching, and laying cables, flexible pipe, ducts, or other elongated objects in the ground. Mechanized units are known for carrying out these different operations and typically include a motor driven vehicle, usually a tractor or public works type vehicle, on which are mounted a holder for such elongated objects, and a digging wheel for digging the trench. Typically, a guide device for laying the elongate objects in the bottom of the trench is connected to the vehicle and causes the objects to assume a curvature so that they are positioned correctly when laid in the trench.
Accordingly, during movement of the motor driven vehicle, the digging wheel, driven by a motor, digs a trench while discharging the earth on either side thereof and, simultaneously with its formation the elongated objects pass through the guide device and are laid in the bottom of the trench. Such devices, however, are limited in their usefulness in many situations, such as sportsfields, golf course, parks and the like.
Other limitations of prior devices include lack of turf pre-cutting means, inefficient pipe feeder means, and cumbersome and ineffective sand or gravel deployment means, which are all critical for the proper laying of pipe or other drainage means in sportsfields, golf courses, parks and the like.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a channel trenching and pipe laying apparatus for laying pipe and covering the pipe with sand or gravel in sportsfields, golf courses, parks, and the like which overcomes the aforementioned difficulties and is highly efficient in precutting strips of turf, trenching or channeling, laying pipe, and then filling the trench or channel with sand or gravel. The present invention also allows for the preparation of a narrow, intermediate, or broad channel and a miniaturization of apparatus size so it may be used on golf greens, for example.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.